Plasma Centrifuges for Hazardous Waste (possible Oil Leak solution)

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Interesting technology. They could possibly use an adapted "massive" Plasma Centrifuge to basically melt the base of the Well Head into a sealed form of solid dense slag.
The thing would have to be built though and quickly. Everything at the well head would need to be heated quickly to 6,000 Centrigrade and just melted together.
Basically, place a Plasma capable "TopHat"  on top with a Plasma Torch melting a huge "metal base" below it. Or, place a "Top Hat Plasma Torch" dropped right beside the Cut Pipe-- then the from the metal "Base" insert a torch deep into a slanted pipe, and then fire the plasma to melt the metal platform and ground right next to it from under the ground on up. The metal base for the Plasma Torch housing "Top Hat" becomes the "Seal" from an artificial "magma".  

http://www.aepi.army.mil/publications/s ... -oct28.pdf

It would have to be massive.


If this patent is the real deal it could be interesting:

Patent application title: Plasma Centrifuge Heat Engine Beam Fusion Reactor
Inventors:  Daniel C. Barnes
Agents:  DANIEL C BARNES
Assignees:
Origin: LAMY, NM US
IPC8 Class: AG21B103FI
USPC Class: 376107
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080226011

[0038]The total voltage applied to the open field region through the limiters ranges from several kilo-Volts to over 100 kilo-Volts, depending on the design details. The inner cylinders are electrically positive relative to the outer cylinders. An external DC power supply energizes the various cylinders of the limiters. Alternatively, the charged fusion products can deposit their energy as heat in the closed field line plasma. This heat is converted to rotational energy as previously described. The rotational drive exceeds other losses, for example the energy required for beam acceleration, which is described subsequently. This excess rotational energy can then be extracted directly as electricity through the limiters, in which case the plasma acts as a homopolar generator. An appropriate design with aneutronic fuel can completely eliminate the requirement for any additional external heat exchangers, turbines, generators, etc., providing a very compact and efficient system.

[0039]The description of this embodiment is completed by describing means for inducing and maintaining plasma current and for injection of fuel gas and beam particles. Plasma current is driven by the rotating magnetic field method, which is known from the literature [Hoffman, A. L. et al., 13 Phys. Plasmas 012507 (2006)]. In contrast to previous designs which require a high power radio frequency power supply to produce a rotating magnetic field, the present invention uses a static magnetic dipole field. Plasma rotation then causes this static field to appear to the plasma as a rotating dipole field and plasma current is driven exactly as in the systems described in the literature. The static dipole is oriented transverse to the system axis and is produced by four saddle-shaped coils 80 positioned at the top and bottom of the vacuum chamber, as shown in FIG. 3. The currents in these coils are steady and in the directions indicated in FIG. 3, so as to produce a dipole field which is vertically upward in the left hand half of the machine and vertically downward in the right hand half. The strength of these dipole components is small compared to the main magnetic field, less than 0.01 Tesla.

[0040]Fueling is accomplished by feeding gas into the chamber through the end limiters, providing a source of particles on the axis of the machine. In this embodiment, a beam is produced in the configuration by injection of fuel which is electrically charged. This injection also occurs near the axis of the machine. Because of centrifugal force, the plasma density is very peaked away from the axis, so that there is only a tenuous plasma near the axis. However, there is a large electric field and associated potential near the axis. This potential is generated by plasma rotation in the manner of a homopolar generator, and can cause the innermost closed field lines to charge to over 1 mega-Volt positive relative to the axis. A proper choice of total mass and total electrical charge on the injected beam particles will cause them to be accelerated into the innermost closed field region and form a beam of the desired energy there, as they collide with the dense plasma and become ionized. Beam particles are formed in source(s) 90 and accelerated electrostatically to a low energy, then transported through duct(s) 92 as shown in FIG. 4.

[0041]Many variations of the continuous plasma embodiment are possible. For example, the closed-field-line plasma may be replaced by an internal solenoid (similar to that shown in FIG. 5A), the current of which then forms the same open-field-line configuration as shown in FIG. 1A. Such an internal solenoid can be supported by the plasma limiters and surrounded by a vacuum-tight enclosure. Alternative beam formation techniques may also be used. For example, waves may be generated in the plasma by static magnetic perturbations. Magnetically soft iron bars which are parallel to the main axis and located periodically around the circumference of the machine can produce a magnetic perturbation with a desired structure, so that a wave of a specified frequency is produced by the plasma rotation. Such waves then propagate across the plasma and resonate with desired beam particles, accelerating them to the desired high energy. Finally, it is possible to rotate the plasma at a high rate, so that its speed is the speed of the desired beam. Low-energy particles can then be introduced as charge neutral gas or pellets. When these encounter the plasma, they form the desired beam by their relative motion to the rapidly rotating plasma.

Just some idle thoughts on possible solutions.  I

The oil slick seen by the Terra satellite on June 22, 2010.

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http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/99 ... -9910.html

Waste Vitrification: Overview
Using the Centrifugal Method for the Plasma-Arc Vitrification of Waste
R.K. Womack
TABLE OF CONTENTS

    * INTRODUCTION
    * THE PACT SYSTEM
          o High-Temperature Plasma
          o Material Feeders
          o Negative-Pressure Operation
          o Centrifugal Treatment
          o Slag Durability and Collection
    * CURRENT PROJECTS
    * References

Plasma-arc centrifugal treatment vitrification technology has advanced from the first experiments in 1985 to occupy a niche in the waste-treatment market. The centrifugal action, the force of the plasma gas, and the water-cooled walls work together to generate a durable, homogenous, vitrified waste form coupled with the safe confinement of the hazardous feeds and high organic removal efficiency. This technology has recently been applied to treat wastes completely while achieving maximum volume reduction.

INTRODUCTION
The plasma-arc centrifugal treatment (PACT) system for waste vitrification was developed from an initial test with 11.5 kg of rubber gloves, cloth, glass, metal, and cesium acetate in 1985.1 The test was conducted in an inert-gas atmosphere and yielded volume reductions of 20:1, but with a great deal of carbon. The subsequent development of a rotating system with oxidant introduction resulted in patent status2 in 1988. Since then, 11 systems have been produced for both laboratory and production use.

Waste streams that have shown substantial benefit from the PACT process are low-level nuclear waste (LLW), paints, pharmaceutical sludges, pyrotechnics, military chemical agents, blast media, and solvents. Common features among these wastes are the presence of heavy metals and often heterogeneous mixtures of organic materials, soils, metals, and water.

The PACT system meets all of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)'s requirements for air emissions through high-temperature treatment and system design. Pilot-scale tests were performed for the EPA SITE Superfund Program on wastes from Silverbow Creek and the Montana Pole plant in Butte, Montana, in July 1991. The achieved DREs for hexachlorobenzene, an added organic spike, were 99.9984%, 99.9991%, and 99.9999% for tests one, two, and three, respectively.3 The EPA limit is 99.99%.4 The numbers represent detection limits (no measurable amounts were detected).

In 1996, 31 tests on nine different waste streams were conducted for the U.S. Army Environmental Command, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. The principal heavy-metal spikes were barium, chromium, and lead.5 Table I shows the leach rates from some of the tests and how they compare to the EPA regulatory limits. Leachate concentrations of hazardous organics were also examined; all were below detection limits.

THE PACT SYSTEM
The PACT system (Figure 1) was designed to produce a homogenous final waste form, safely treating waste at high temperatures with high destruction and removal efficiencies (DRE) for toxic components. In the system, wastes are fed into a tub rotating at 10–40 rpm and melted by a plasma arc, forming a molten pool of metals and oxides. The slag cools to form a glass-like, leach-resistant slag, while organics are evaporated, treated, cleaned up, and released.

The estimated 6,000°C temperatures generated by plasma and the centrifugal action allow one PACT system to treat a variety of heterogeneous wastes with different melting points. It also means that PACT systems can treat their own fly ash plus filtration media, minimizing secondary wastes. Volume reductions for LLW stored waste (including containers) can range from 7:1 for drums containing mostly metals to 270:1 for primarily organic wastes. The centrifugal action of PACT also produces homogeneity, which adds to strength and long-term durability.

High-Temperature Plasma
Figure 1
Figure 1. The PACT system.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Slag generated in the PACT process meets all applicable EPA disposal requirements, and ranks well in long-term durability (PCT) tests.
The availability of energy at high temperatures is much greater for electric arcs than for combustion energy. Only about 23% of the theoretical heat of combustion is available above 1,200°C when combusting methane with air at 140% of stoichiometric oxygen. Disassociation of nitrogen, air, and like gases at readily achievable temperatures of about 6,000°C results in more than 91% of available energy above 1,200°C.6

A transferred plasma arc is chosen for the system, principally because energy is transferred into the waste material to be heated more efficiently than with a nontransferred arc. A further advantage of plasma is that temperature can be increased at full system capacity without affecting the system off-gas volume.